Bloody Howling
by WeabooTrashcan
Summary: Everyone thought Arietta was dead, and so did she. But when she wakes up in a hospital bed 4 years later, Everyone's realize their lives change once again. Ocs, character death, whole lotta shipping and gore... beta version
1. Chapter 1 A new beginning

Lol wot

I never thought I would be writing this, I finished the 3ds version of the game months ago and am not a giant fan of writing, but this has turned to my favorite game. Not many people are writing stuff on tota anyways, soo

I figured I'd write about a character that I related to more than any other character in any videogame series I've played so far. Enjoy? + I don't own the characters but my own if I owned tota I'd be one happy mother f-

Arietta's view

"M-mommy?" I wake up in a sweat, my hearts beating so fast… I was playing with mommy, I guess it was all a dream… "W-where am I?" I ask the nearby doctor or nurse, visions too blurred to tell but he tells me reluctantly. "In a hospital bed in Daath, you were in a coma for 4 years." "What?!"

"Yes, it's true, but no one visited you, so likely no one in else knows you're alive." He explained, softly.

"This can't-

This can't be…

"You lost a lot of blood, and broke a few bones so it's a miracle you survived. The time you came over here with Largo you were completely shell-shocked, you had a heavy decrease in fonons so it wouldn't be a surprise if you experience amnesia." He smiles sweetly. He pauses at what he said and got nervous by the harshness of what's happening. He puts his hand on my shoulder and gives it a light squeeze.

"I-if you don't mind, I'll tell fon master you're here." He quickly says, tells me I have his wishes and then rushes out of the room.

Where's mommy? She should be here, but he said I had no family…

This makes no sense…

I look around the room, classic, plain white with simple items scattered around. An old, torn white and pink outfit, a small table, and a cabinet-

And then there's a doll.

A cute one with tan, pink and blue one it, a sad look on its face. I get up and collapse on the ground, letting out a grunt as I tried to drag myself across the room, clearly not used to this. I grab it by one of its weird legs, pulling it to my chest, it feels comforting, like how it was in my dreams. Closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep, I suddenly hear a loud, obnoxious voice outside the room. "What do you mean I have to see someone?"

The door opens to reveal the doctor with a somewhat short skinny girl in a pink dress with a rod in her hand. Her light brown eyes set on me and freeze. She put her hand on her hips and slightly tilts her face to the side.

"G-gloomietta!?"


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry to everyone who read this before...

I accidently uploaded the original version except the edited version which had way less grammatical issues.

I uploaded 8 chapters before reliezing that

/face palms

/

Her eyes slightly tear up but she's angry. I can tell. Her cheeks get a little pink as she turns over to the doctor and starts spatting out some things. I bet her high pitched voice hurt everyone's ears.

He says I was in a coma and talked about someone named commandant Van told the hospital staff to keep me safe. I'm trying to remember who they are talking about but just can't. I can't remember anything. Fon master turns around and says she has to tell the others, especially "Jade".

They then leave and I just think. Who's Jade? The name sounds like a girl name… the fon master left angry, maybe she doesn't like Jade. Maybe she's mean to fon master.

And who's Largo? Why did commandant Van want me alive and kept secret?

I put my face in my hands in frustration and look out the window beside my bed, it was facing out of Daath so I could see out of the city, and there were monsters everywhere. A few small newly borne ones, and a few big fully grown ones, including a Liger laying down. Its face in the dirt. He seemed sad, waiting for something, someone…The Liger seemed empty, emotionless…

There was a knock on the door and after a few seconds a nurse comes in with a meal one hand and some clothes in the other. "I bet you're hungry. Here's some clothes, ma'am." My stomach growls, I never knew how hungry I felt until now. But then I looked down at the food. It looks weird, it's all white with black in the middle. She said they were rice balls. She bows and leaves. I eat the things first, I guess rice balls were good. They look really weird though. I turn to try on the outfit, it has the same colors as the others, and it's pink and black, with some white on it. A skirt, knee high shoes, and a small shirt.

I try to get up to explore the room but fall over again, this time on my face.

Walking's hard, always falling over is definitely going to be a problem later on, But putting my hand on the table helps a little. I walk a little with my animal, it reminds me of mommy.

The wind blowing, Ligers running around, the smell of fresh kill in the air… Leaves falling from the trees, then my ligers start growling. They're looking at a man with tan skin and brown hair. Everything's blank…

Hearing footsteps, I hid behind the bed. I tried to peek over the bed cautiously but ended up smacking my head on the table, accidently swearing a little and held my head. The door open again to a green haired boy, he says his name is Florian. He says he is going to take care of me. I get up and he says the doctor told him I should get to know him since he's always here.

I ask him where fon master is, he says Anise is going to get Luke, Jade, and the others over here. He said it's going to take probably until tomorrow because Tear is pregnant And Natalia is getting married soon. He said they all were on a vacation together, Anise had to leave early because of work. He took me out of the small room, the whole place smelled strange of medicine and there were many other rooms, one with a man in it, it looked like he had a broken leg. The other room had a woman with a young man on the bed, he suddenly turns and looks at me. I jump a little and look at him more. His eyes are brown and look lazy. His hair is messing and is dark blue.

He looks like he doesn't care what the lady is saying. She has orange hair and is angrily yelling at him being an ass for cutting his arm like that. He turns from looking at me and reassures the lady he's okay. She turns away and tells him he doesn't know who angry his mother would be.

Florian sees him and guided me out of there to the staircase, we walked down them slowly, mainly because I stumbled and tripped half of the time like an idiot. "How long have you been in the hospital?"

I think a little, I guess I'll just go off of what the doctor said. "The doctor said 4 years, He said I was in a coma."

Florian's eyes widen and he scratches his head, obviously seems shocked about it. "Then how old are you?"

"I think 20…"


	3. Chapter 3

We both pause and look at each other. He clears his throat and laughs nervously before settling down a little. "You're younger then you look! I guess that's good, not many people would want to look older then they are." He strolls around slowly to let me get used to walking.

"If you need help I'll carry you down the stairs." Florian says seriously, I just laugh and tell him that'll never happen. He chuckles and says it was a bad idea anyway.

We get outside and he tells me we should visit the church. He says it's huge. And it is, walls and doors more than half my size. The place seemed to swallow up everything, it was so big. We spoke to a few people and they told us they'd gladly help us if we get lost. One man he says Florian is a bad guide. We all laugh and he says a few more things about the church. Lastly he said he had to leave after checking the time, he shakes our hands and says farewell. Florian walks around a little before turning around and saying we should play and make up the time I missed.

We end up playing a game of hide and seek in the church, he tells me the rules and starts counting. I hid in the closest room to us.

It happened to be the library, too bad he went in there first. "That's not fair…" I said, Pouting a little and softly stomping my feet. He laughs and leads me outside again. The weather was a little windier then it was last time. The whole place was filled with things to look at and explore.

We took off our shoes and played in the grass, it was a little cold and felt soft. It wiggled and waved in the wind. We started rolling down the hills, but both ended up so dizzy we fell over. And when we got tired we relaxed under the trees for a while, they were swaying back and forth. It was so peaceful before a leaf landed on Florian's face. We both laughed when he couldn't get it off.

It was really fun until the sun went down, the sky changed to orange, yellow, pink, and purple. Everything was pretty and peaceful, I gripped my stuffed animal close to me. We both stared at the sky, laying on the short grass. Florian looked more worn out then he has a while ago and he just says the sunset was one of the prettiest things I've seen. He tells me Anise usually keeps him inside the whole time because, she always says he always wanders around and would get eaten up. He laughs and says he always watches it from the churches windows. But everyone seemed to get tired as tired as Florian and they all ended up going inside. I told Florian I need to talk to someone. He made a worried face, but let me go. He wasn't my babysitter anyways. But the only thing on my mind was the Liger.

It feels like I know that Liger. Maybe he knows why I'm alive. Maybe he knows who I really am.


	4. Chapter 4

I went out of the city, it was slowly getting darker and darker. But I could still see clearly, no monsters were nearby. So I paced around Daath, still nothing was there, just the trees and the howling wind in my ears. It was getting colder and colder the longer I stayed outside. Shivering and griping my stuffed doll closer towards myself to keep at least a little warm. It kind of worked but not really.

Then there was a scream, I got so scared and ran towards it. If it's a monster I could talk it out of murder. One Limited could knock out anything, really. I stumbled a little and fell down, but got back up and ran through the pain. I got closer and closer to the human, it was that boy from earlier, and he was cornered by the Liger. The Liger was growling and angry; pacing closer towards the boy. He was slightly shivering, clearly too weak to use any fonic artes.

"Hey!" I yelled. The Liger turned and its eyes opened wide, he paced backwards, his head's shaking. Not believing what he saw. I tried started communicating to him. He understood, saying he was looking for Arietta.

He put his head down, and walked towards me, we both look each other in the eyes. We look at the boy, he loosened up and started to stare at us in awe. He was gawking at what he was seeing. The surrounding wind picked up and stirred up the leaves on the ground. The leaves and wind circled us both.

"She was pink haired and pinkish red eyed, small and skinny. Or at least that was what mother said. She said she would be here." He speaks in grunts, stops and looks at me starry eyed. "Arietta?" I lean down, the wind and cold not bothering me anymore. The stars twinkled and shined brightly in the sky, his eyes were sparkling like them. He seemed to only be 4-5 years old. "No more looking, I'm Arietta. I'll take care of you know." He looks happy, but so afraid. I hug him and held him close to me, his fur tickling my body. I felt him quiver as I held him closer. "Let's go." I look over to the boy who is by my side. "Did you just?"

"Let's- I think a little and look him in the chocolate eyes of his.

"Let's talk later in the inn."

His eyes are still wide but he calms down and smiles happily. He closes his eyes and shrugs in defeat. His blue hair blowing softly with the leaves. He puts his hands in his pockets and crosses his legs.

"Not like I have a place to go."

I jumped on the Liger and went into the crappy inn. We shared a room together, he took the bed while I slept on the ground with my new friend. He tried to convince me to sleep on the bed but I refused. After the argument ended as we all looked at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact; not sure what to think. He grips the bedsheets and turned his head towards us. "Soo, mind telling me something?"

"…"

I get up from resting on the Liger and looked over at the boy, then I look over at the wall. Not sure what to say.

"Your name."

"Your name." He echoes back.

I sigh and look over at him again. "Arietta, Arietta the wild."

"…" He stays quiet for a while.

"Forte… "He says softly.

"I've never really told anyone my name before." He said unsurely and unconfidently. Jittery and nervous he puts the blanket over himself.

"Arietta…You've got something you haven't told anyone else, too..."

"H-huh!?"

"Don't act dumb. I can tell you have amnesia, it took you a while to figure out everything in Daath. Who else to trust, people here who don't know my name or some girl who saved my life and one of the few people to know me here; even just a little." My Liger perks his ears up and pulls his head up sleepily. Forte struggles and tries to look at least a little tough. He crosses his arm, and closes his eyes quickly.

"Plus, I'd love to have amnesia, forgetting everything bad from the past. I moved here to Daath to forget all of the things wrong in life." He closes his eyes and speaks even softer, his eyebrows furrow together.

"F-Forte." I move a bit closer to the side of the bed.

"My parents were killed, so I came here for religious and happiness purposes. Everyone made me feel welcomed and happy again. But that doesn't mean I'm not still dwelling on the past. My aunt looks so much like my mother. Not to mention someone made replicas of them, and they're everywhere I look. I spoke to them and they didn't even know how to speak. They weren't my parents anymore, no more memories with them. " His teary eyes rest on the blanket then to me.

I awkwardly put all my weight on one side and crossed my arms, not sure what to do.

"Both of my parents are gone. Or at least I think, all I know is that I was raised by a pack of Ligers. I think I was then taken by some man."

I can't remember. But I think I was raised by him. "

I think a while and turn to him. "I think I was one of the 6 god-generals…"

His eyes widen, he starts shaking a little. "God-generals?!"

"B-but I'm not sure about anything anymore. The fon master hates me for some reason."

Forte looks at me curiously.

"Fon master Anise?"

"Yes, it must be something about my past self… But it's not fair!" I furiously pull my hair a little, they both look at me curiously.

"I don't know why, yet she acts like it's the worst thing in the world that I'm alive…Almost like the whole world is a joke." I calmed down in a few seconds and flop back on my Liger.

We were quiet and tired after that.

"heheh, you better not tell anyone I cried like that!" Forte changes into a less scared and cockier person in a few seconds.

I giggle and turn my body towards him, Liger already asleep.

"I won't!"

…

Everything's different.


	5. Chapter 5

How's this story?

I'm probably going to post the art of my characters soon.

Like

Design wise. Trust me. It's cool

I think

/

I wake up to Forte shaking me awake. He also woke up Liger in the process, I guess they are in good terms because they both seem to be calm towards each other. The sky was clear and the air was crisp, both Liger and I took in a deep breath and stretched.

Forte was eating rice balls and walked towards the church, he turns around while walking and speaks in a chirpy, overly happy tone. "Someone from the church wanted to speak to you." He runs towards the church and smiles while looking back at us. "You better hurry!" I take the challenge and hopped on Liger we ran over to the church and I stopped in my tracks when I saw the familiar figure of the fon master, and the familiar figures of the friends of hers. They turn over to look at us, all surprised. Jade, Guy, Tear, Luke, Natalia, and Anise all seemed strange to my eyes.

Jade walked up to us. "Now, now, who are these children?" He says in a sly way, a smirk on his face. He walks towards me. My hands ball up in fists. Forte hops up in front of me. Protectively with a large and sturdy bow and arrow in his right hand. Anise walks up closer to us, "I don't know what happened, Gloomietta, but I'm not a fan of it. Now we're going to try-

I walk towards them both, closer and closer "Gloomietta?! Why can't you leave me alone-

"You're a killer, you're going to serve some time, but-

He grabs my arm I drop my stuffed animal. "We need to ask you some questions." He has a serious look on his face, his eyes strong enough to melt steel. Liger picks up my doll and glares at Jade, Liger's uneasy and upset more than usual.

We all are forced in the library together. Guy and Luke have their eyes on me, Anise angry as ever, Natalia with the knights, Tear ready to sing nightmare. Jade is sitting in front of me at the table, Forte and Liger by my side.

I can't help but cry as how much they seem to hate the idea of me alive.

"Why are you-?

"I should be asking you the same thing, Arietta. We were told you were dead. But since you're alive we have no choice but to put you in jail. Maybe if you're lucky Anise could give you **_a nice, big hug_** on the way in." He gives Forte and I a weird glint and smirk.

We both end up flinching.

Forte obviously didn't take the joke lightly.

Forte stands up trying to intimidate Jade, looking angrier than he has ever been. "Look, how about you calm down a little, old man, and just give a girl who lost 4 years of her life a chance and I don't know, go back to killing professors for a hobby."

Jade and Forte both get angrier by the second. Forte starts yelling first.

"She's lost her memory, the only thing she can remember is her mother and she can still communicate with monsters so she isn't one of your REPLICAS. Can't you actually feel remorse, necromancer jackass? Maybe you should take off those glasses and truly see the problems you've caused in other people's lives." He clenches the sides of the table.

"You killer, you're not any better…" Forte whispers in Jade's face. Jade didn't change his look on his face until he heard the whisper. He looks like he's going to kill Forte with his spear any moment.

"That- he says in a rude tone.

"Doesn't matter, I was in war, she wasn't and killed innocent people. I don't care if she has lost her memory, she is going to jail after we ask her questions. Can't your small mind comprehend that?" He pats Forte's head, Forte grabs Jade's wrist and says under his breath, "don't touch me again, I won't stop this harassment until you're dead in the war field like you're supposed to be. " Jade's eyes widen slightly, and readjusts his glasses with a mysterious smile. " _My, my,_ aren't you a mouthful? Don't you know what happens to _naughty_ children when they say _futile_ and such _disturbing_ things?" He smirk when he symbols the guards to come over and take him away.

"Forte, don't go!" They both stop yelling at each other, Forte is so angry he hasn't noticed the tears in my eyes, he softens and hands me an old, gemmed necklace… It has a picture of a happy family, a small blue haired boy. A soft purple haired woman with a large stomach, most likely pregnant. And a tall man with a strong build and dark blue, gray hair hugging them both. On the bottom of the picture it says, Hilbert, Melody, and Forte. "I'm sorry…" he marches out of the room with the guards as politely as he can. He may not be a soldier but he has the confidence and posture. Jade fixes his posture also and pushes up his glasses. "Might we begin?" I can tell he's a little shaken but tries to keep the same smirk and neutral look on his face.

" _So_ , how are you alive?"

"I-I don't know-

"Oh really? Okay I'll tell you the details, you and anise had a duel, you lost and were half dead on the ground, Largo picked you up and carried you away. How did you survive?"

Tears in my eyes, I could barely speak.

"I d-don't k-know…"

I clench the stuffed animal in my arms, Liger starts to growls and get out of his seat. "Please, don't…" I tell him, he hesitates but lays down on the ground. "I can help you when you want." He grunts and returns to growling at Jade.

"Where did master Van keep you?" Luke buts in, clearly the replica is in distress.

"H-he…" I wiped away tears.

"He kept m-me in the hospital… I was in a coma f-for 4 years…" Everyone seems surprised, Jade just simply raised an eyebrow.

"I-I don't know who V-Van i-is, but he was the only one who cared for me…"

"As far as I know no one visited me… No one cared about me… I was just left over trash…" Now it's everyone else's turn to raise an eyebrow. Anise looks over uncomfortably at Luke, they both share the same look before looking at Jade and I.

"I think this is over, tear would you-

Everyone froze when they heard the singing. Tear flinched

And started to fall down slowly.

"S-seventh fonist!? I d-didn't know someone else knew

Nightmare!" And started falling asleep, even

Jade had a hard time trying to keep awake.

Tear collapsed and Luke let her fall in his arms before he fell right by her.

Everyone soon fell down, everyone except Arietta and Liger.


	6. Chapter 6

The girl from earlier and Forte both walk in, the girl is singing nightmare. Her sea green eyes are shocking and seemed paralyzing, she's wearing a Malkuth outfit, her straight orange blonde hair to her shoulders, she motioned me to follow and I hopped on top of Liger and ran with them.

We ran into a small forest and I saw a few monsters, I spoke to them briefly about us needing help and let them lead us to the nearest port through a forested and not noticeable path. I thanked them as we got on a boat and walked to coral castle in 15 days on the run. We got as much supplies as we could briefly before the word got out.

"So what do we do?" the girl asked unsure. She turned to talk to me, notices we still don't know each other and she bowed down, her dress waved and staggered at the motion. "My name is Hymn."

"Arietta the wild, call me Arietta." We all sit down, I clench my stuffed animal. She notices the necklace and smiles at me with a faint blush.

"Stop acting tough and proper, everyone knows you're dif-

"Forte!" Hymn warns and gives me an innocent smile. Forte sighs like she's done this a million times and she's scolded him a million times.

"Hymn is my childhood friend, we split shortly when I went to Daath. She babysat me basically until I turned 19. We met up a few days before we ran from the others with you." He laughs and lays down. "Oh yeah, I'm 20, she's 38. Sounds weird right? But it was nice for someone to take care of me after my parents died." He elbowed Hymn and gave her a thanks. We all smiled, Hymn slightly blushed in embarrassment. "I was a family friend, not like I had a choice. I-it was fun though." She laughs she turns to her regular smiley, happy personality. "You've grown so much, I'm surprised you're already attracting women." Now it's our turn to be embarrassed.

"You mean men." Forte says unharmed.

"It's that a problem, too?" I ask him. He blushes at his horrible comeback.

Suddenly there was a noise behind us, immediately we stand up, Hymn Stands up and prepares a fonic arte.

Then it turns out to be Florian, he followed us here, everyone stops and lets down when I march up to him. The idiot…

"Florian! What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be in Daath?" Crossing my arms and waiting for an answer. "I wanted to go with you, I'm not let out of Daath without someone else's permission so I'm in trouble anyways." He talks so casually and acts like this is nothing for him; I raise an eyebrow. "I guess having someone good at Daathic fonic artes might help someday. Plus you are my friend…" Both Forte and Hymn perk up. "The more the merrier." He smiles and shakes my hand, he walks over to the two. They both awkwardly shake hands.

"I came over here because I'm usually locked up in the church. The day I spent with you was the most fun I had in years, I've got to admit. Anise is usually bombarded with paperwork or having to go around and everyone else just gives me books to read. I don't like reading all day." He scratches the back of his head and kicks a rock nearby him.

"I heard you left Daath and followed you here, same ships and everything. I thought I could help you guys. You all don't seem to be criminals, just people trying to help Arietta. And maybe a few things you don't want to admit."

We all avert eye contact but Florian.

"I'm one of the replicas of Fon master Ion, I was thrown away because I wasn't as strong as him and found by grand maestro mohs; used by him. And just a few weeks ago I was left in the church without anyone to talk to. This is my only chance to do something risky a-and actually interesting for once." A smile tugs on his face. He's practically jumping up and down in place.

"S-so I won't let you all down." He confidently. "I've brought somethings that might be useful." He takes out the bag that was concealed behind him. Hymn is impressed, she's gawking at Florian. "F-Florian! No need to care for us!"

"I'm surprised you fellows didn't notice me right behind you when you were buying food!" He giggles and opens the bag. It's filled with milk, eggs, rice, and any other cheap food. He takes out some miracle gels. All of our eyes widen.

"I spent a lot on these."

We all settle down afterwards and start a small campfire. Hymn is practicing her fonic hymns on a tree. Everyone else is relaxing around the fire.

"You can sing very well Hymn, Like Tear." Florian says lazily eyes closing.

"I used to sing at a bar in Grand Chokmah. I was the main entertainment in there." She sings random songs after knocking down the tree on accident.

"Is that how you met emperor Peony?" Forte asks with a sly smirk. Hymn blushes heavily.

"He's a womanizer! I bet I'm just a one-time girlfriend, like Nephry." She covers her face in her hands, trying to cover the red on her face.

"Oh really, he surely didn't seem to think that when I spoke to him about you. He was all "Hymn is beautiful!" "Hymn is perfect" "Hymn is one smoking hot sexy-

"OKAY FORTE!" We all laugh when she turns around to not show her face to us.

"Plus, I think you have a good chance with him, you seem like you have enough money to please him. All short dress and million gald magic rod-

She throws my stuffed doll at him. Liger raises an ear at the action.

"If your mother was here, you'd be dead!"

"My mom's not here and if she was she'd be laughing her ass off that I made a 38 year old blush like no tomorrow."

"Oh shush."

"I bet you'd like it if Emperor Peony was the one with the million gald magic rod-

"Forte, I'm going to kick your ass!" Hymn walks over to him, tugging her sleeves up to her shoulders.

We all ended up laughing until we all felt tired, it was nice to finally relax and be away from death, even if it is in an abandoned castle. I got my doll back after Hymn came over to me, apologizing like mad.

"No need to apologize, Forte is a pain to everyone."

"H-hey!"

She pats Liger on the head.

She sits by me and we watch the stars together, everyone's asleep and Ligers laying on her lap. She's acting like he's the lightest thing in the world.

"I'm definitely not a fan of girly, cutesy things, but thing _is_ pretty badass."

He melts in her touch, almost like she's experienced in handling monsters.

Everyone else was asleep, so we began to speak in whispers. "Forte gave you his necklace, huh?"

"… Yeah, he was yelling at Jade the necromancer. He got taken out of the library by guards."

"Oh Jade, that idiot… He acts like he's all mysterious and tough. I can see right through him thanks to Peony, but he could barely make through town without getting weird looks, he has no sense of style. You should really see him without his military uniform on… _It's horrible_ …" He seemed insanely grossed out by the end of the sentence.

I laughed and she suddenly got antsy. Not in a normal way, more in a protective way.

"That necklace means everything to Forte, it was his mother's. His parents died in Akzeriuth." She softened in a sad way.

"He must care about you a lot." She holds my hand and gives it a squeeze.

"I kind of saved his life." She had a blank look on her face before bursting out laughing, then remembering that there are people asleep and quiets down. Florian stirs a little before settling down when Liger comes over and sleeps next to him.

"Who hasn't saved his life? He's so careless and idiotic sometimes no one has to wonder why he's always going to the hospital with injuries." We both laugh. She gets serious again.

"I should tell you something…" She turns to look at me after looking at the sleeping Forte, Florian, and Liger all cuddled up.

"I have children and a husband I'm searching for." I look at her, unsure what to think but gladly soaking up the knowledge.

"I married a man named Travis when I was 18. We were young and careless back then, we didn't know what we were getting into. I ended up having children with him, 3 handsome boys and a beautiful daughter.

Their names were Aiden, Lui, Casey, and Viola. Aiden and Viola had my orange hair, Casey and Lui were twins and looks exactly like their father." She smiles lightly. Stops and continues.

" _They all had my eyes_ , but they looked so cute my little babies…"

She tears up and looks down at the diming fire. "He wanted to divorce me, but it was considered taboo in Malkuth. So he left one day while I was working, took the children and all of the gald we had together. I spent 16 years trying to find them but couldn't so I went back to Grand Chokmah. I met Peony and we started a relationship, I told him about it and I said it wouldn't work until I find my babies.

He understood and helped me more than he ever should have. He found my daughter, she was found abandoned on by travelers back when I started looking. But she was 18, I missed out so much of her life. When I met her I looked at her for so long, she looked just like me, and she had her father's freckles, his big eyebrows and thin body.

We just stared in disbelief before crying in each other's arms. "

"I-I want to bring her along with us, to be there when we adventure with each other. Maybe find my husband." She hugs me tightly, I sit there trying to absorb the information before hugging her back. "Where is she?"

Hymn gasps and smiles, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Keterberg…"

"Her parents are mountain climbers, they have visited everywhere, anywhere in the world. All they want is her to her to be happy. They want her to explore the world but she loves Keterberg with all her heart, they were worried she wouldn't go out of Keterberg so they told me to bring her along since they knew I go wander around with people like Forte. They also thought it would be a good way to help us bond."


	7. Chapter 7

"Where are we going next?" Florian asks while stuffing his face with rice balls and udon. It was pretty entertaining to see someone his size do that. "Keterberg, we're going to get someone from there." Forte gives me a look, almost immediately he noticed that Hymn spoke to me about her problem.

"For Viola, right?" Florian questions, everyone looks at him in disbelief. This boy, I mean seriously…

"H-how do you know?"

"Maybe next time, Hymn, you should know that you shouldn't be laughing so loud in the middle of the night." Florian winks and eats the last rice ball in his possession.

"Keterberg it is?"

"Yup."

"O-okay…"

"I don't like the cold can we go to the casino there, maybe the spa."

We get to Keterberg port to see guards by the entrance and exit.

I get covered up by Forte's cape.

"O-oh! Welcome Hymn! We didn't expect you here!" One guard says he eyed the Liger nervously.

"I'm going to see my daughter who lives in Keterberg. This is her pet Liger, he's a good boy, so no need to worry, sweetheart." The guard appears flustered to have acted so frightened in front of her. At least everyone in our group can tell she's as smooth as a Jade.

"That was close…" I gasp as we walk away.

"We should have been more careful, so far the guards only recognize Arietta as a criminal."

We approach Keterberg, snowy, cold, and windy as usual.

"Peony grew up here…"

"Surprising, huh? Nowadays he's usually stripped naked from the heat in grand chokma-

"Forte, you're going to die one of these days."

"Maybe your daughter works at the casino, she had some really good knockers, you know?" Everyone eyes Forte weirdly. Florian just sighs and shakes his head disappointed. Forte just stood there innocently and shrugged while saying "what" over and over nonchalantly.

Hymn thinks a moment and then blurts out. "She probably does come to think about it. She said she had a good job… _Not that I'd ever consider it good…"_ She shivers a little with a look of disappointment on her face. Florian just marches up to the casino.

"What's so bad about the casino?"

He opens the door just a little, we wait a little and he walks out red faced and delirious. "I-I think I saw your daughter…" We all walk in to see the usual, bunny girls, gamblers and people who look like they wasted their lives. One orange haired girl in the back with some other bunny girls caught everyone's attention.

"Viola?"

"Mom?" She squeals, embarrassed and exposed.

"Do you want to leave with us? I'll explain the rest later. Hymn laughs out.

"Y-you're not embarrassed? And I get to find daddy with you?" Viola asks.

"Well, at least my daughter _is_ making money." Viola perks up.

"I'll get my stuff mom, can you tell me during that? Bye guys!" She waves to her dumbstruck friends who were mumbling somethings in between the lines of "I wish my mom was like that" and "her mom's cool"

"Bye momma, papa." Viola says while hugging her elderly parents.

"I understand what you're going through, Hymn, deary. Keep your friends safe." The old woman spoke softly. She turns to Forte Abruptly.

"I expect you to behave, young man! You're like my husband!" Forte laughs loudly and thanks her for the advice. She turns to me and Florian.

"You poor girl, I wish you the best of luck. How dare they hunt you down when you don't know what you've done? It's shameful to know people could do such things these days. But I do understand their reasons are larger than your reason's to stay alive." She gives me a wishful look of "good luck".

"Take care of your friends, young man." Florian giggles and blushes. "Thanks."

She pats Liger on the head. "Be a good boy and don't eat people."

"See you later!" The elder man says.

"See you later!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Mom, where are we going?" Viola asks happily.

"To somewhere warmer." Viola laughs wholehearted.

"Here's, as you know Forte, Arietta, Florian, and Liger." She greets us to Viola. She nods and greets each one of us instead, of Forte. "You're an idiot, you know that? "She says leaning into Forte's face.

"Oh I know that but I'm not as bad as Jade." Forte says as he walks up towards the entrance of Keterberg.

Liger growls and pushes everyone to the side to a not noticeable spot.

"Dammit." Forte hisses.

"They're here! How did they find out-

"Shhh…" Hymn softly shushes us and looks at them through a small space.

"We need to find them before they hurt innocent civilians."

Jade

"I can't believe they took Florian! Stupid Gloomietta is going to pay for that!"

Anise

"The guards said they were here, do you think they could have left so quickly?"

Guy

The others are probably with tear at Baticul.

They start speaking about Luke and the others while Jade just paces back and forth before freezing. Florian looks absolutely terrified when Jade glances at where we're hiding before looking at the others.

Jade gets quiet almost as if he knows what's watching him.

"Hymn, why would you choice them over emperor Peony?"

We all look back at Jade.

He's staring right where we're hiding.

Shit…

"You don't understand Jade." Hymn jumps up out of hiding place with us, Liger puts me on his back. We're face to face with them. Hymn pushes Viola back to stand with Florian and I, she understands and puts on her feathered jacket and take out her spear. Forte takes out his Bow and arrow as Florian holds my doll to his chest. Florian is then pushed behind Forte by Hymn.

"Of course I _don't_ understand." He mimics emotionless, almost mockingly. "It's not like you to choose a bunch of criminals over someone you hold dearly."

"Don't call them criminals! What I do with my life, Peony understands! He's letting me look-

"Face the facts, you're with criminals. Plus, isn't your daughter in danger if you bring her along?"

Everyone looks at Viola as she walks up to Jade. "My mom cares about me. Just because my mother has made bad decisions in the past doesn't mean she's forcing me into this. I'm an idiot too, if something bad happens I'd rather die with my mother then die alone." She stares at jade and jumps back when he reveals his spear.

"Gloommietta, that isn't Ion!" Anise blurts out angrily while pointing at Florian. "That's a replica! The Ion I was guardian to was a replica too! Just let Florian go! I didn't want to tell you the truth but-" Anise mumbles off.

I-Ion?! Who's Ion.

No matter how long I think I can't remember him. "W-Who's Ion?" I ask, everyone's jaw drop except Jade's who was focused on Hymn and Viola. Florian is hidden behind Forte, eyeing down Guy.

"You can't remember Ion?" Guy asks unsurely taking out his blade.

"You can't remember Ion?! _You're joking right_?" Anise says unchanged.

"IS EVERYTHING A JOKE TO YOU?!" I yell, Liger gets ready to strike. Anise winces and everyone freezes when Hymn sings Nightmare. Everyone slowly falls down except jade who's struggling to stay put. Forte takes out his sword and walks up in front of Jade, unfazed as usual. Staring him down. Forte kicks him to the ground and keeps his foot on Jade's stomach. Jade is struggling to breathe and keep consciousness. "Wow, you showed mercy for once, poor old fool…We won't next time and so should you…" Forte frowns and runs with us. "We don't have time!"

This is amazing! I've never felt so alive!" Viola yells while sprinting ahead. Florian's riding on Liger with me.

"I couldn't agree more!" He yells. "Florian you adrenalinaholic. " Hymn says, Forte laughs.

We slow down ever so little just to let Forte keep up, he's obviously still not healed from being in the hospital. Florian seems to be having the time of his life. Hymn and Viola seem to be as happy as ever.

We almost make it to Keterberg port when we hear something behind us.

"Ground dasher!" Before any of us could comprehend anything that was happening, Hymn pushed us all out of the way and took it defenselessly. "Mom!" Viola Yells.

Forte is furious and starts fighting. He runs up to jade. Bow in hand, he jumps up in the air and shoots arrows at them. "Arrow Fury!" Forte yells, shooting 7 arrows, one hitting Guy's sword. Guy jumps up too, "Beast!" he launches Forte higher up in the air. Forte transforms his bow into a sword, no one knew he could do that. He falls right down on Guy creating a large explosion. Florian runs away far so he isn't hit by anything. I run up to Anise as Viola heals Hymn. "Splash!" Jade hits me, I lay on the ground as Viola runs up towards Jade, their spears collide. "Flaming desire!" Hymn yells as she slides right past Jade and hits him on the back with a large flame ball.

I get up as Liger is furious, I pick up what he wants me to do.

"A different world, a different time, a new life, BIG BANG!" I yell out as stars appear around us, Anise running towards me and Jade defenseless I shoot put a large laser of white, throwing them both back.

Guy got Forte on his knees, coughing up blood as he runs up to him and slashes him. Forte grunts, he gets angry, very angry. He transforms his sword into a bow again while backing up, then shooting many arrows at Guy.

Guy avoids it all and slashes Forte's injured side. Forte falls to the ground and starts to use his mystic arte.

"With the bloodshed of my enemies, the death of my companions! A burning passion hell no one shall stand! Blitzkreig!"

Forte watches as his bloody body glows. Everything turns black. Everyone falls to their knees, Anise with her hands on her head. "I-I can't, my head hurts!" A light appears under them, Shocking and burning them. Hymn and Viola take the time to heal everyone. Jade gets up with a gash on his head, his glasses glint as he gets up with a strange smile.

He runs up to Viola as she rests after casting so many fonic artes. She notices him to late and has nowhere to run. "Viola-

Hymn runs up in front of Viola before both of them react. The spear went completely through Hymns body as she fell down in pain. Jade pulls out the spear as he watches, thinking.

"Go!" Hymn yells while coughing up blood, "I'm okay… GET YOUR FATHER FOR me…" She quiets down as we run away, I let out a bloody howling at them, Hitting Guy and flinging Anise on her stuffed freak to a surprise of a face full of snow.

Jade bends over worriedly to Hymn who was losing more blood by the minute. "Jade you idiot… You don't know me at all if you think I wouldn't do that…" She passes out in Jade's arms as they all ran back to the Albiore.

We made it to the port and get on the ship as quickly as we could.

"M-mommy… if Jade killed you…" Viola was crying in Florian's arms, Liger wrapped up around her, trying to comfort her. Forte still bleeding, came back with some hot soup for us all, we all got Viola up and got her to sit at the table with us.

"Viola, no need to worry." I say sternly, everyone looks at me shocked. "She's one of the strongest people I've ever met, she did that on purpose. She probably didn't want Jade and Peony to worry over her like that. We all saw how Jade was when he saw her with us, he probably didn't want to see his best friend's heart break if he had to tell him about Hymn. She's smart, and strategic. She probably realized she didn't have much to do with finding Travis." I hold Viola's Shoulder a bit harsh. "The last thing he'd want to see would be her, she probably saw that since she's spent over 16 years trying to find him. She wants you to find him and your brothers. Why else would she bring you over with us?" I lied while she smiles and hugs me, everyone else seemed proud in me, especially Florian. He gave me a playful jab in the arm. We both smiled, knowing why he did it. We all ate like mad, it was hot and we were not. Viola started telling stories about Keterberg.

Everyone had mixed emotions of awe, surprise, and laughter at her unbelievable stories. But we all kept it in when we saw she was trying to be serious.

We all laughed and went to sleep, we were all tired. More than we have ever been.


	9. Chapter 9

"J-Jade no need to worry-

"No need to worry? How can I not worry?"

"Jade you idiot…"

"Hmph." He crosses his arms in defeat. Turning to look the other way.

"So what's the story on her?" Anise asks lazily on her doll who's still large.

"She's Peony's girlfriend."

Anise then jumps up and bombards Hymn and Jade with questions.

Hymn laughs happily.

"Okay, Okay, sit down, maybe I'll tell you a few things even Jade doesn't know…" She smirks happily, everyone raises an eyebrow. She turns to look at Guy looking at them. "Hey kiddo, come over here if you want to hear some sad tales called my life." She spills out. "M-me? Are you sure?"

"Of course I've told Forte and the others, well, why not tell my "Enemy"." She laughs loudly.

"Of course ma'am." Guy says happily.

"Oh boy it feels like I've told this a million times already…" She breathes in and begins.

"I fell in love with a man named Travis, we married at 18, so we were stubborn and idiotic at the time. Not knowing what we got ourselves into. We had 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl. Aiden, Lui, Casey, and of course, Viola. Our marriage was very rocky but since divorce was considered "taboo" we pulled through, or so I thought. One day after coming home from work, Travis, my children, and all of our gald were gone."

"That's horrible!" Anise yells. "Who would ever do that?" Jade and Guy just show a face of sympathy. Hymn just smiles at Anise and closes her eyes, trying not to show emotion.

"Good thing I was given a Giant chunk of gald for that, a little bit more than I would never even need, but, hey, I'm not complaining. So I searched for 16 years until I came back to Grand Chokmah. I sang at the bar there for extra money in the evening, and one fateful day a certain someone liked my singing. It was Peony. "

A smile from guy and an "ooo lah lah bow chicka bow wow" From Anise. Jade was smirking and still interested in the story.

"He came up to me, bought me a few drinks and basically was all "head over heels" for me. I thought it was just a hookup but a certain someone found out my schedule and came there every day I was. Word kind of went around about Peony and some random rich girl were dating but I didn't really want that kind of attention. I still haven't found my children and my husband, so I told Peony I couldn't be with him until I find them. I told him he should date other people and move on because I probably won't come back. He dated others a little bit before rushes back into my arms, practically. Trying to figure out how to help me. He helped me find my daughter." I smile and a squeal from Anise.

"Who knew that weirdo had a heart?!" We all chuckle. "It turns out she was found abandoned on by mountain climbers trying to see the beauties of their favorite mountain, but it happened a day after he left me. So she was all grown up. 18 years old, so I figured a little family bonding on trying to find our possibly dead family. It sounded reasonable for me to look with her. She even went up to by herself when she was 14 to try to find her father. "

Hymn laughs. "I learned that from the people who took care of her, turns out they can't have children, they said it was like a miracle to find a child like that."

Anise leaps up, "Then why are you with Gloomietta?" Hymn chuckles "I've known Forte ever since he was a baby, I babysat him and took him around with me after his parents died in Akzeriuth."

Guy gasps, "From the miasma?" "Well his father died from the miasma incident, apparently during the destruction of it. His mother died from a mining incident when he was 5. She needed to work while she was pregnant because they were tight on money, it ended up killing the child, too. I took him along with me because his father let me and he didn't have anyone to stay with. Soon one day after we were at Daath Forte got sent to the hospital for being a dumbass hurting himself, I was scolding him and he was staring at this one girl who looks like she hasn't seen the world in years. Which was correct. Arietta spent the whole day running around with Florian, looking at the church for the "first time" and meeting other people. Later that day he got attacked by a wild Liger and Arietta befriended them both. She and Forte spoke and ended up meeting you guys. Forte doesn't like your attitude, probably because it's like mine but 50 times more annoying."

Anise giggles and Guy tries to keep in a laugh. "You get angry, kick him out. He goes over telling me everything and tells me how your being, quote on quote,

"An uptight necromancer with his spear up his ass"."

Anise and Guy burst out laughing, Jade tries to keep his neutral face as usual but fails. "He tells me a girl is being sent to jail for a reason she doesn't remember because of amnesia. So being the protective mother of myself I get her out of there, mainly because my baby Forte made a friend. He never makes friends. Florian ends up following us and we make up getting the genius idea of making a group and going to Keterberg to see my little girl."

"That's all? That's why you were on the run?" Guy asks.

"I just wanted to protect that poor girl, the pinkette reminds me of Forte's mother, all innocent and afraid of the world. I think he sees the same thing, too. We're just protecting Arietta until she understands wants she'll do with her life, but she'll probably stay with Forte and I, though. "

"Why don't you live with your daughter?" Jade asks, readjusting his glasses.

"She likes the cold, can't stand the heat much. She'll probably spent her time passed out on the poor Liger's back if they go somewhere hot and humid. Plus I can have children, her parents over there are very sickly, but they love her with all they have. I don't want to tear apart such a relationship like that apart. I have a job you know so I can't exactly jump over there."

"Then why did you send her away with Arietta?" Jade raises a curious eyebrow.

"Her parents in Keterberg wanted her to see the world, to smell the roses, but she wouldn't budge. She'd love to live on If she could. So I sent her with the others. I mean, even if she stayed she'd probably just work as a _bunny girl_ at the casino and basically lay on our laps for anything. They knew she'd be back and happy as a fly telling them stories on where she's gone. So they messaged me and let me know earlier, around a month ago that they wanted her to explore."

Anise giggles," I see you don't like her career choice."

"Sure hell I don't."


	10. Chapter 10

We were on the boat when we got the note that Anise and the others want us to visit Hymn in Grand Chokmah. Everyone was happy to hear that, they were worried sick. They said they wouldn't attack us like last time.

We head over to Grand Chokmah in a few days later that week. Florian was ahead of us, bouncing up and down in happiness. "I've never been here, I heard it's beautiful. Too bad Jade lives there." Forte laughs and Viola stiffens, trying to hold in a giggle.

"He needs to get a girlfriend! But no girl around Grand Chokmah would EVER find him sexy. He looks like a girl himself." Forte puts in a girly pose half way through, and spoke in a sassy voice. "I'm JADE! My boobs are soo big!"

And lifts up his shirt and shows everyone his chest. Viola blushed like mad when she chuckled, Florian and I laughed until our stomach's hurt.

"I'm so flattered that you found me so attractive enough to compliment my _breast size_ , but I'm not interested in having those kind of _things_ around." No one noticed Jade in front of us the whole time. Looking at Forte with a smile.

"G-get away old man! We can walk on our own!" Forte's flustered and has a goofy look on his face.

"Oh no, I can guild you through like the gentleman I am." He moves and motions us to walk.

"Gentleman my ass, necromancer." Forte pushes us past Jade.

"Oh, how improper of you to say that, not that I'm complaining." Jade looks at Forte happily.

"Though you can probably stop commenting on your " _ass_ ", it's not nice to disrespect your face like that."

Viola appear randomly and laughs while yelling "He showed you, Forte!" in of Forte and Jade.

They both look amused.

"Well aren't we getting along well?" Florian says in a spunky voice, pulling Jade and Forte closer.

"It's nice to see them like that, being all giddy and teasing another."

Florian and I look at each other, Liger ruffs and grunts happily. Scratches his ear and marches up to us. Growls at Jade and wags its tail.

"You can bite Jade, Liger. " I tell him.

"Oh no, no, no, that's not friendly Arietta." Jade wags his finger.

I just look up at him to say an insult but get interrupted by Florian yelling that we're at Grand Chokmah. He's so happy and joyful, it was cute. Everyone gave him a happy glance and just rushed in Grand Chokmah after him. He ends up running to Anise who was waiting for us at the entrance. "Anise!" He yells out, she turns around and sees him.

"Florian!" She engulfs him in a bone crushing hug, but he seems like he's used to it. "Grand Chokmah is amazing! I never thought there would be so much water!" His eyes sparkle with anticipation of where to go. "We're going to Hymn's house, Peony is already inside doing who knows what." Jade smirks strangely at Forte, Forte blushes like mad.

"Jade." Forte speaks up.

"Yes master, what do you want?" He gets on one knee.

"Stop putting disgusting images in my head." Jade gets up and bows. "Of course, I was trying to have fun with you like Peony and Hymn." Forte gags and runs to the gate of Hymn's home, Anise, Liger, and Florian run towards the gate, having as much fun as possible.

"Arietta." Jade says neutrally, messing with his glasses.

"…"

"Aren't you going to respect an old man and speak back?" He's weird, and very smart, I don't like him.

"Aren't you going to answer?" I look at him and he's looking at me.

"No." Jade gives a creepy look at me. Smile and everything.

"Oh my… You broke my elderly heart." I stick out my tongue at him and run to Liger who is wandering around away from the others, damn they both are way too curious. I walk him over to the door of the large home and turn around to let Liger in to see Jade right outside the door with him, I jump a little and let them both in.

"Oh, you're so kind, Arietta." He says in a sarcastic tone.

"How may I ever repay you, maybe with Forte's hand in marriage?" He winks at me and makes a kissy face. I could feel my cheeks burn up.

"Shut up, would you?!" I stomp away from the creep to see the others surrounding Hymn on the sofa. She laying down with a bandaged up body by Peony and Viola. Liger is at her feet gladly resting on the soft carpet, Peony looks over when Jade and I walk over.

"Oh my, who is this lovely lady, is she your girlfriend, Jade? I never knew you were into younger woman, you old dog you." Peony snickers as Anise keeps in a giggle.

"Oh, Arietta, you _never_ told me you felt that way to me! Oh, I'm flattered by the offer but I've already got a handful taking care of Forte." We both look over to Jade to see him humming in delight with a shrug he returns to his "normal" pose. Forte has a face of disgust as Anise laughs and sits by him. "Oh Jade, how would Arietta feel about that?" She and Forte are going to get along, I just know it.

Anise looks and walks over to Hymn and Peony, planning something. "Sooo, when you too get married, who's going to be the flower girl?" She strikes a cute pose and bats her eyelashes. Peony laughs, "Oh I've got that taken care of; Forte's going to do it since he has woman legs." Forte stares straight at Hymn, who's got her hand over her mouth and is stifling a giggle. Florian joins in with, "He does have lady legs!" "Maybe that's his secret!" Viola exclaims loudly. Anise clears her throat, "Soo what am I going to do?" She does a different pose. "You'll kick out Jade if he gets too drunk." Hymn says in a monotone voice, almost she knows it's going to happen.

"I'm not an alcoholic… well." Jade laughs when he gets a serious look from Florian and I.

"So, where's Guy?" Anise asks Peony, her expressions turn unamused. "Did you feed him to the rappigs?"

"One day I will, but not today." Peony stretches and rests his feet on Liger's back, his eyes shot open quickly and questioned me what was happening. "Peony happened." He looks over dreadfully and turns back with a look on his face that says, oh god why. We started speaking about what we're going to do next on our trips. He says we'll be busy and that he doesn't mind some extra weight on his back if I want him to carry me, but as long as it isn't Peony, he shivers with another "questioning my life" look. I take the offer happily and look over at the others. I had forgotten I was in Hymn's home to see everyone looking at me.

"Wow that's amazing Arietta, you really can communicate with monsters!" Florian all hyped up as usual. Anise was amused as Peony and Hymn were. Viola was fascinated and I don't even want to see what the necromancer was doing.

"Maybe at the wedding Arietta could be a pet on a leash, walking next to your rappigs! Oh what a joyous sight to see." He wipes his eyebrow and keeps his dumb smirk as usual. He's mocking me, isn't he?

"Says the man with a rappig named after him." I mumbled while looking away to Liger. He's as amused as Jade is. "Oh don't give me that look, you'll be walking down the aisle on a leash like Jade is." Liger still is amused. Viola laughs loudly, "I can just see Peony walking down the aisle with all 7 of his rappigs." Hymn thinks while smiling a devious smile. "I would make him sleep in the grass if he walks down there with his Rappigs."

Guy bursts in worried, "Your majesty! There's trouble!" He has his sword out and on his right arm there is a fresh wound on his arm. " W-we're under attack!


	11. Chapter 11

"Damn! I-I have to leave, stay here Hymn." He gives her arm a squeeze before kissing her cheek, which ended with Anise going all lovey dovey about romance.

"Mommy I'm going to leave, stay safe, okay?" Viola smiles while getting her weapons. "Florian stay here to protect Hymn, use your daathic fonic artes only when necessary." Anise says quickly. she gives Hymn a "stay safe" before we rushed outside. The smell of blood stronger then the flowers in the nearby garden.

"Let's just hope my citizens aren't all dead." Peony says while covering his nose in disgust. Anise does the same thing. "I've never noticed blood could have such a strong scent…" She whispers sickly.

We run over to the pavement and see bodies of innocent people scattered on the ground, not moving or responding. Liger sniffs the air, and tell me he smells someone, I hop on his back and we run over to the castle there's a man with a woman hostage, he has a knife to her neck and is threatening to kill her.


	12. Chapter 12

Viola sees the man and tries to confront him but it has too late, he had already dug the knife into her throat and drug it a crossed her neck, hitting a major artery. It sprayed blood everywhere, she twitched violently as he dropped her body afterwards, staring us down.

Viola just stared in disbelief, Anise had her eyes covered by Peony as he winces away just like Guy did. Forte froze in place for a second in sadness before closing his eyes in anger, trying to calm down but ended up pulling out his bow and arrows. Emotionless, Jade and I weren't fazed.

I've seen blood, it doesn't hurt people, just comes from them. Another man turns around with a crazed look on his face. His eyes seemed as empty as his remorse.

He darts by us to a group of other murderers in which one grabs a random small child who was mourning the death of his stabbed dog. The boy struggled and screamed, knowing his death was here, he slowly started to punch and kick harder. "No more steps closer or this boys brains scatter."

"We're not afraid to kill, you know!" A tall woman from a different group yells as she shoots fonic artes at us. Forte and Guy protected us by reflecting them, Jade tried to hit her with a blessed tears and he ended up running.

Soldiers started crowding around them from behind, knowing quite well that they saw them approaching. "What point are you proving by doing this, killing innocent people and animals?!" Forte wasn't happy about the thought of killing in a public area in front of a small child, but neither were any of us.

We all readied ourselves for a battle. "Now!" Viola yells while launching herself to the side, grabbing her spear from her large, feathered coat.

I couldn't think of anything else to do. "Negative gate!" I shouted. Right before it appeared Guy swooped in after the child instantaneously after mad man let go and ran straight towards Guy.

The men split off from each other and tried everything they could to get away, Fonic artes, smoke bombs. 3 out of 17 of them got away. But more headed into the castle, even more were taking down soldiers over at the military base.

Jade said this must be a suicide mission.

Many of the killers died almost immediately.

The boy was shaking and unsure what to do or think, he wouldn't stop crying or whimpering. "He reminds me of you Guy." Anise whispers beside the frightened and shaking Guy, truly not over his fear, while scooping up the kid and putting the boy on Liger. He was scared to death at first but quickly snuggled into Ligers fur. "Find them before they escape, I'm going to report this to others that Grand Chokmah is in a state of emergency. I'll meet up with Florian and Hymn later. "Much to their irritation, Peony gives Forte and Jade a heavy slap on the back before leaving with 7 guards surrounding him.

We all split up into groups, Viola and Anise. Forte and Jade. Lastly Guy and I ran towards different men going in different directions. Guy was running besides Liger before hopping on and telling me to tell Liger to hop on the roof and jump down on the man, I told Liger the same thing. He understood. He jumped up on the roof and ran on it, the man not knowing where we are slows down until he looks above him to see the reason for the forming shadow above his head and had a 300 lb Liger land on him, breaking his left arm and left collar bone in the process. Liger grabs his shirt and tugs him to the military base, we hop off of Liger and walk side by side with the criminal, not letting him out of our sight.

He appeared to be thinking, Guy has his eyes in him. Suddenly a light appears under Liger. "Flame burst!" I toss the boy over away from us. He gladly runs far away from the fonic arte. We all get stuck in the flames, and when it's over Liger's still on fire. He's freaking out and is trying to put the fire out, Guy is trying to catch up to the man, but he's nowhere in sight. I run over to water and tell Liger to get it, he does after a second of hesitation. He plummets down in the water for a few seconds before popping his head out of it. I jump in also because my uniform was still on fire. The boy is running up towards us and hands us some miracle gels. Florian must have given Anise them for the injured and She must have given them some of them to him. I can feel my scalp burning so I dunk my head in, when my head surfaced I see Jade and Forte standing in front of us, obviously upset, "Did the others get away?"

"The man we chased used his Mystic arte on us, we had no choice but to get back to everyone else and see how they're doing." Forte says. "W-Why are you in water?" "He used flame burst on us, Liger and I were on fire."

I use a miracle gel on myself and squeeze the water out of my hair. I look down at Liger, the dark puddle in the water red. Liger has his eyes closed and is in pain. "He's not doing well…"


	13. Chapter 13

I put my hand on his head, it's insanely hot. I wince my hand away as he groans. I try to give him a miracle gel but he won't accept it. "We'll look for Anise and Viola. They must be having such a fun time." Jade quickly walks away with Forte.

I put my hands on his back and rub softly, it soothes him a little, but it rubs away the burnt fur. He twitches and opens his eyes, they're red. He must have gotten struck by the fonic arte on his face. "Just a little bit longer, Liger… Just a little bit longer then we'll be able to get Hymn to heal you…"

The boy looks at liger, he puts his hand on Liger's head, and the boy seems to enjoy Liger's presence. Liger tries to look at him but can't. I hold him up with the help of the boy. Liger gets up and limp walks over towards Hymn's house. We bring him up over towards the gate to bring him over but see Guy. "Guy did he get away!?" I ask him, he laughs and leans to the side.

"He lost too much blood and died after I hit him with my sword, he was so close to getting away so I had nothing else to do." He shrugs and helps carry Liger. We bring him in to see Florian, Peony, and Hymn together. Peony has a large sword with him in case he has to battle.

Hymn sees Liger and runs up to him with the others.

"I'll prepare to heal him, i-it'll take a while." She seems like she hasn't healed at all. Peony walks up to us and looks at Guy, expecting some news. "Many people died, there was _at least_ 17 criminals attacking Grand Chokmah, many of them deceased. Jade said some of them attacked the military base. Forte said he ease dropped on them and they were going to Baticul next. They also have taken 7 people hostage in their coach, mostly children. It was most likely a suicide mission." Peony thinks and looks at the little boy. "Like this one?" "Y-yes, your majesty, they tried to kidnap him as well."

Hymn starts the healing process. "By name of thy deceased and by name of thy living, they call out to thy ones fallen and lay. Middle line!" Him strikes the ground and a Fonic glyph appear under everyone, Guys wounds heal and so mine, Liger lays and the fur grows back and is no longer burnt.

He struggles to get up and stands on his feet, shaking and struggling less than earlier. "I didn't expect you to use your Mystic arte injured." Florian says as everyone looks unsure on how Liger and Hymn are doing.

Noticing the attention, Hymn blushes and gets shy all the sudden. "N-no need to worry about me. I'm fine." She stands up okay and wobbles a little before walking over to Liger. She looks and shakes her head. "I used my strongest healing arte, but it didn't heal his eyes, he's most likely to go blind. My mystic arte is supposed to heal everything, even scars, but it seems to be weaker on monsters…" Hymn rubs her arm weakly, not sure what to do.

I turn to Florian. "I-is there something you can do Florian?"

I couldn't help but get teary eyes. I sniffle and rub my nose.

Florian shakes his head sadly and looks me in the eyes.

"I wasn't taught many daathic fonic artes. Most of them would weaken me or even kill me. Anise might be able to help…" Florian says. The little boy is clenching Liger's leg, scared of what to do next.

"Let's find them, Viola is a 7th fonist like I am, she might have inherited my mystic arte. Anise is new at Daathic fonic artes. If she isn't able to use any yet I'm sure another middle line is able to heal Liger." She whispers to Peony and Guy. "For Arietta and the little boy, they love that Liger." They nod and give her a smile.

We walk towards Jade and Forte waiting for us. Jade sees Peony and walks up towards him. "They have taken Anise and Viola hostage. I considered following them but I got a sword to the throat. So we decided we should wait since Forte cried and cried about the two little girls." Jade teases, Forte shoots up with a bloodied leg. He limps over towards Jade and starts arguing like they usually would do.

"I got shot in the leg with a goddamn energy blast, can't you ever be serious?!"

"Oh I'm always serious, it's just more fun teasing people then keeping a straight face."

"Can you guys shut up!? Liger's hurt!" I yell, I didn't notice I was still crying.

They both look at me unexpectedly before looking at the badly injured Liger shaking and trying to stand on his feet.

The small boy by him, trying with all him might to keep Liger up. Liger still isn't able to see well, when he opens his eyes, even just a little, you could ever see was his eyes were that they were red and very irritated. Everyone could tell he was in extreme pain as was getting blinder each second.

Jade goes up to me and seems apologetic. "My apologies, I shouldn't let the ignorance of Forte get in the way of you ever again. Now let's find those two, shall we."

Forte just looked embarrassed before avoiding eye contact. He's ashamed…

"Jade you ruin everything don't you?" Forte walks over towards the boy and helps carry Liger.


	14. Chapter 14

We run as fast as we could to the nearest exit. Jade and Forte checked everywhere before meeting with us and said they weren't there. Peony had gathered the survivors and had them be transported to a safer town. The boy was still attached to Liger. Liger fell over and Guy carried him with Forte. Jade said he was too old to carry anything too heavy.

"You're just a wimp, Jade. Forte is badly injured a month yet he's lifting up a monster 300 pounds with Guy." I join in and help carry Liger.

"Ohh!" Jade grabs his chest. "You hurt my heart!" Hymn smacks his shoulder roughly. "Did your heart break from getting told by a girl 19 years younger than you?"

"I miss them already… Right now Viola or Anise would be making fun of Jade like no tomorrow." Forte says. "Who doesn't? No one likes Jade anyways." Arietta spoke unnaturally neutral. "Guy and Florian don't make fun of me, it seems like they're my only friends." Jade fakes a sniffle. "I wouldn't bet on that, Jade!" Florian bursts out laughing. Jade just smiles and walks ahead of us before stopping.

"I can hear a coach, we should keep quiet from now on." Jade pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

We all hunch down in the brush as a coach goes right past us. We got up after the coach zoomed past us. Someone grabs me from behind and puts a hand over my mouth, someone else does that to Hymn, obviously knowing that she knows nightmare.

I try to get out of his grasp but he puts something to my mouth, I can't help but stop moving and lower my eyelids. Everyone by now is staring at us in fear, weapons out. I feel something cold and sharp against my neck, I can't see much anymore because everything's blurred.

"Let them go!" Florian yells, huddled up by the boy. Guy is now carrying Liger, who's pale and weak to blood loss.

"All we want is Arietta, We have Tear hostage in Ortion Cavern if you want her and her child alive you should get her after we get Arietta and have left." The man says in a rough, deep voice. He looks over at a man in uniform and the uniformed man whispers something into his ear. "We'll take Florian and the little boy also."

Florian and the child walk up, not sure what's happening. Everyone else just stood there. Waiting patiently for them to leave already. "Take good care of Tear for us. We'll make it back, we promise." Florian whispers to the others.

We all get into the coach and leave with the strangers. After the coach starts up and we start leaving they all run back to Grand Chokmah.

I pass out soon after. I wake up again with a pounding headache, my vision's still blurred so I just lay there.

"How are you doing Faye?" A man asks me.

"F-Faye?" I ask him unsurely.

"Yes that's your real name, Arietta." A man with a cape covering most of his body is in front of me, no one else to be seen.

"I just thought you'd like to know." He smiles at me.

"Faye…" I just wanted to say it, it really rolls off my tongue.

"Faye Cosmos." He says while looking out the window of the coach.

"Where are the others?" He turns around and looks at me, he crosses his legs and puts his hands on his lap.

"Oh, they're in different coaches. Fon master ditched her fon master guardian at Daath so it was easy." He laughs.

"Who's the fon master guardian?" I ask him.

"A young man named Yule, presumably after Yulia. His mother had recently given birth in Yulia city so fon master Anise wasn't supposed to leave until they got a replacement. Anise left before anyone could tell her not too." He smiles harshly before blowing a piece of grey hair out of his face.

He mumbles something about war.

"I mean, the last thing I'd like to do is kill my little Faye." His face turns weak and pale.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Trident Cosmos."

I just look at him, not sure what to say to that.

"I'm not your father but, might as well take you and some of your friends along. I was your uncle, I left you in the basket, and somehow Ligers took care of you. I never knew I could feel so glad about someone being alive."


	15. Chapter 15

The door on the coach opens before I could process anything he said. "Keep that in mind Faye. I-I mean… Arietta…" He says to me as we make it to a large house. I was lead inside with his to see Florian, Anise, Viola, and the little boy from before. Anise sees me and sighs with relief. "You took so long, Arietta! I thought you were dead." Anise glances over to the others, seeming to check them for injuries and then at me.

"I'm glad you're okay Arietta." Florian says with the boy sleeping on his lap.

"M-me too! _They said they took another person other then you or Tear. Do you know who it is?"_ Viola asks very quietly after the guard leads me to the cell the others are in.

" _N-no… I didn't really learn anything, one man put something to my mouth and I kind of lost consciousness…_ " I say even quieter. Anise gasps.

" _He must have used a fonic cloth on you. It's were someone uses a water fonic arte, like splash or blessed tears on some fabrics. It usually tears it all up so they take the largest pieces and put it to people's mouths. The people inhale the fonons and pass out by the sudden increase of fonons in their bodies_." Anise explains.

" _And why are you t-telling us_." Florian says kind of scared.

"Uh, duh _, in case we have to use it on the guards in here to break out old fashion styled_." Anise says while wagging he finger back and forth.

" _Apparently people used to do that over 50 years ago to capture unsuspecting criminals on the run."_ Anise says while looking over at the guard.

"I know all of this because Jade said he used to use that on Peony when he got drunk." Anise says not as quiet.

"I'm not sure about what I should feel about this "Jade"." Viola said very uneasy.

"He's a weirdo, he's a drunk, and he's a pervert." I say nonchalantly.

Anise just shrugs. "That's pretty much it."

"I wonder if that's the reason why everyone says Peony passes out after he drinks." Florian wonders out loud, everyone gets uncomfortable.

Viola just shudders. "Good thing I don't drink."

"Does Peony even know?" I ask everyone, they all just make a scared and worried face.

The guard is obviously annoyed by us and marches to the cell. "Would you calm down and shut up!" He yells at us, scaring Florian.

Anise just laughs and gets up. "I could say the same thing about _you_." Her doll swaying as she walked over to the cell bars to be face to face to the man. "Oh, don't get your panties in a twist and sit your ass down." The guard threatens Anise. She gasps and spits on his uniform. "That's what you get for being such a jerk!" Anise pouts at him.

"That's it! You're not getting a meal today!" He says before marching out of the room.

"Wow, what an idiot. Leaving geniuses behind without a guard." Anise says while flipping her hair.

Viola quickly looks at the cell door and tries to unlock it. The boy wakes up and looks at all of us, but stays quiet. "Do you think he's still in shock?" I ask Florian and Anise. They both shrug, not sure what to say. Viola picks out a feather from her jacket and crams it into the lock, she then puts her ear to the lock and listens for something. We all stay quiet before long we hear a "clink". The door swings open.

"That's a trick I'll remember in prison." Anise says happily, we all just giggle at the comment. Viola looks at the vent and unhinges it. She puts Florian on her shoulders and puts him in. He motions Anise to get up and she does, he grabs her hand and pulls her up. She looks at me and reaches her hand out, I smile and give her my doll before I get in the vent with them. It's not as small as it looks. Viola grabs the little boy and lifts him up to me. I lift him up to us, he's lighter then he looks. Viola jumps right in and right after that the guard walks in, she quickly put in vent piece back on and tries to hide herself. "H-huh?! They're gone!?" He yells while running back out. Not long after that an alarm rings, it's so loud. "hnng!" Anise makes a noise while plucking some feathers from Viola's coat and puts them in her ears. Viola tries to protest but Anise just stares at her happily, not hearing a thing.

This girl may get on everyone's nerves time and time again but she's a genius when she can.


	16. Chapter 16

Viola gladly hands us all feathers, probably because her ears also hurt from the alarms. They echoed off of the walls of the vents, making them louder than they actually are. We couldn't hear a thing and let Florian and Anise guide the way. We make it around the vents as quietly and quickly as we can before Florian takes out the feathers. And moves his head around, expecting something. I take out mine as Anise does the same thing. No alarm. "I guess they gave up." Anise whispers. "We've been in here for… 17 minutes so far, I bet they think we already left here and are wandering around outside." Viola checks in her mind.

We continue wandering around the vents before seeing into the kitchen, in the kitchen are no soldiers like there probably would be. Just foods and gels. "Look!" Anise squeaks.

She point at a window which looks like a basement for supplies low to the ground by the foods on the counter above. "Maybe we should go down there-

Before she could say anymore a female and male soldier walk in, most likely chefs. I see what I have to do…

"Negative gate!" I yell out at them, they don't know where it came from and take the hit before passing out. We let Viola take off the vent cover and jump out first. She is taking off the uniform of the female guard and puts her in the basement. We are getting down from the vent and look over to the door. Opening and showing 3 more soldiers. Before anyone of them could react Anise hits them all with 3 punches with her doll thing and a dual punishment. They all get knocked out when the little boy does an eclare delarmes. Anise was shocked. "He knows that!? … Does that mean…" She goes off in thought as she takes an outfit of a soldier and puts him in the basement. We eventually all get dressed in the soldier outfits. The little boy is too small so we take a bag of our other clothes and give it to him. Anise and I put our dolls in the bag before thinking about what to do. Viola looks terrified before locking the door to the basement.

"No one will be able to get out of there now." She slumps over, her back to the door. Anise sighs. "Man would it be embarrassing if they came out of there." Florian just smiles and chuckles. "I would be embarrassed if I had to see more people in their skimmies." We all knew what he meant and just gave him a smirk.

We take as many gels as possible and eat as much as we could. "Don't eat too much, we wouldn't want anyone getting sick while fighting." Florian says while slurping up some spaghetti. "Hey…" I said quietly. Everyone turns and looks at me. "What is it Arietta?" Viola asks. "Didn't all of the soldier also have their hair in a certain way?" I put a shrimp in my mouth. Anise jumps up, remembering. "Yeah! They all had it straight or in ponytails…" She whines. "But I like mine in braids… I guess we have to blend in!" She takes out her braids and puts her hair in a ponytail, she gives me the other ribbon and I do the same. Viola says she'll keep hers straight and gobbles up some more cake while Florian takes out his braid. His hair is down to his elbows and it's very wavy. Anise notices me looking at him and smirks, I look over at her and look away blushing. Anise, you idiot…


	17. Chapter 17

We all are ready to walk out the door when a man stomps in, he calms down and walks up to us. "Have you seen the hostages?" Florian walks up to him and bows respectively. "We just got here, but we heard from them that after they break out, they were going to Engeve for supplies. It seemed like one of them had an injury." Florian lied while being as respectful as can be.

"They should be outside figuring out where they are, we had to come back in here for gels, they beat us single handed! I guess that's what we get for trying to beat them when 2 of them know daathic fonic artes…" Anise shrugs and pretends to be limping. I just start rubbing my arm, pretending like it hurt. The man just stood there, dumbfound. "What are you doing standing there?! Shouldn't you be warning the others?!" I yell at him. He responds with a yes ma'am before bowing and leaving us behind in the kitchen.

"Let's leave, should we. And try to avoid eye contact and hide the little boy from being seen." Viola walks poise and straight out the door, trying to look like a soldier.

"She looks like she's done this a million times." Florian says while walking without a slouch.

"I'd never be able to walk like that without breaking my back." I say while trying to hide the boy. Anise giggles.

We walk out the door to see we're in a large and heavily decorated place. On the rug and fabric on the walls is a large symbol no one in our group has seen before. No one recognized it. The walls are dark red while the floors are a brown wood. Every soldier seemed to be hurrying around, looking for us. "Where are we?" Anise asks while trying to keep her posture.

"I don't know…"


	18. Chapter 18

lol this is probably where the story gets shitty.

I'm litterally the only one checking this, rewriting this, and making the plot.

oh kill me

Viola walks around before waiting for us. "I don't see an exit." She whispers, avoiding eye contact. She then walks over to the window and looks out. She walks back over to us. "We're on the middle floor, so we just have to follow some of the soldiers to get outside…" Viola says as quietly as she can. We hurry over towards a soldier with a sword. We follow him towards as quietly as possible and get to a large room. The walls up around 30 feet, spiral stair cases in the way front with large doors. A chandelier in the middle of the top of the staircase. A large carpet with the symbol in the middle. Glass windows in the front of the door leading to the exit.

Anise softly chants yes before hurrying outside with us. We immediately go to where the soldiers are heading, a thick forest with even thicker bushes and leaves. The boy behind us point to the opposite end of where most of the soldiers are heading we hurry over there before anything look suspicious. We run right through it for around 4 minutes before stopping for a walk.

"I can't believe it." Florian pants, looking around in case there is anyone nearby. "Well, everything bad has to happen when you don't want it to happen, I was seriously having fun and getting to relax from all of the work I do but we had to do all of this." Anise doesn't get in detail in case someone is ease dropping.

We end up spending the night out in the forest. Anise and I gathered wood while Florian fed the boy some rice balls he made. Viola was waiting for us to get the wood so she could make the fire. We all just sat around the fire, ever since we walked out of the building we felt like we were being watched. Everyone in the group felt it too. We all then whispered a promise that we'd go to sleep when we make it out.

"Let's go searching for them." Anise says uncomfortably. She shakes dirt off of the military uniform. We rush around the forest, we couldn't tell if we were going in circles because it was so deep and rigid. Viola says we might be going to the end of the forest the boy is on her shoulder, sleeping quietly. We see the end of the forest and run straight towards it. It felt like freedom, it felt amazing when we no longer felt those eyes watching us.

"Let's run!" I yell out, everyone gladly agrees, no one wants to go back over there. We ran until we saw something in the distance. "It's a village!" Florian yells out while stumbling a little. We ran even faster right to it. It was . "Oh thank god it's somewhere I can trust I can be safe!" Anise huffs out.

"I really needed that exercise." Florian collapses on his knees, huffing and puffing. I walk up to him and bend over. "Florian, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I've never ran s-so much before." Florian laughs. Anise and Viola walk up to him. "Florian, it's not funny! We're going to be worried if you collapse on your knees randomly like that!" Anise yells while putting her hands on her hips.

Viola closes her eyes and stands still for a few seconds before walking towards St. Binah. "It's around 10 pm. We could still get rest if you want." Viola looks back at us bickering.

We rush over to her side as we make it over to the inn. The man at the counter getting ready to go to sleep and then sees us and just snickers. "You guys look tired. That'll be 30 gald." Viola gladly gives him the gald and rushes to our room. We all fall into the beds.

Viola places the boy in the bed before collapsing on one next to him.

"Good night everyone 3" Anise says happily. Everyone says goodnight except the little boy and we all go to sleep.

Everyone wakes up early in the morning and get breakfast. We all sat at the same table, the little boy was already there before anyone else was, I guess he's a morning kind of person. Viola had a cup of coffee in her hands as she lazily stirred it with a spoon.

"I haven't had such a good night's sleep in years." Anise says while stuffing her face with coffee cake.

"Not the longest nap I've had in years." I say while stretching in my chair. Everyone couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Hey Viola…" Florian says while getting a cup of juice.

"What's up green bean?" Viola yawns before sipping from her cup.

"How do you tell time like that?" Florian says while sitting at the table. Viola just sighs lazily and takes another bite out of her food.

"I'm a mountain climber. More importantly, one who has parents in Keterberg who have been mountain climbers and have it in their blood." She says proudly.

"If you want to climb , you need to know how to tell time. Avalanches have proven to be more common to happen in the daytime." She continues and points at her coat

"This coat is a traditional coat for mountain climbers. The higher up, the colder it gets and this is specially made to conserve heat. That's why I have it around my waist all of the time, in case we go somewhere cold I'll at least be warm." She laughs when she sees Anise practically drool over it.

"You all can try it on, if you want." Anise raises her hand as Viola tosses it to her. Anise tosses it on and snuggles into it. "It's so warm! I feel like I'm in !" Anise says.

Viola perks up. "Oh, I've never been there!"

Anise lowers her head and shakes it. "You probably wouldn't want to, it's a volcano." Viola flinches.

"I can already feel the heat…" She says sadly.

"Me too…" Anise mimics her. She tosses the coat to Florian and he immediately tries it on. "What's this made from, Viola?" He rubs his hand against the feathers.

"It's made out of the monsters my parents fought on the mountains, they'd take the feathers and skins and made coats." Florian takes it off and gives it to me. I try it on and instantly melt in it.

"W-woah! It's so warm!" I say as I move around in it. Anise stops and thinks. "It wasn't that warm when I tried it on, so it really conserves body heat?!" Viola laughs and nods her head. I take it off as I start to get a little too hot and hand it to the boy. He gets up and tries it on. It's too big on him but looks okay.

"I didn't think he'd try it on!" Florian gasps at the sight.

We give the coat back to Viola and she ties it around her neck again. "Now where should we go?" She asks us.

Anise stops and thinks, "Maybe we should go back to Grand Chokmah. To see your mother and everyone else. If they're still there."

"Sounds good." Florian says while stuffing the rest of the coffee cake into a bag.

And so we start yet another trip.

I wonder how Liger is doing…


	19. Chapter 19

"I wonder if they're okay. They've been gone for a two whole months now…" Forte whispers while he dines with everyone else. Hymn, Jade, Luke, Tear, Natalia, and Guy were all crammed in the same dining table at Baticul.

"Oh, Anise is okay." Jade says while pouring himself a cup full of tea.

"Could you shut up?" Forte asks while throwing a piece of bread at him, Jade catches it without giving it a glance.

"Your turning into Arietta, are you not? How would your other lady friends care about that?" Jade smirks while taking a sip and looks over at Hymn. She just shrugs casually.

"He's not my child." Hymn just takes a bite of her udon.

Tear clears her throat. "How about we talk about something actually important." Luke just smiles at her.

"We obviously missed a lot of… things." Luke says, not knowing what was going on one bit.

"Oh sorry, I should never let Forte's ignorance distract me ever again." Guy just awkwardly smiles. "Didn't you say that to Arietta?" He clears his throat and begins on what happened. "We went to Keterberg to follow Arietta's group, we ended up fighting when they used nightmare on us. 2 people got badly injured, Hymn and Forte. We worried about Forte's health so after a few weeks of trying to get in contact with them we finally got to them and told them to meet Hymn, who was improving and was let out of the hospital." Guy lets Jade finish the rest.

"They met Hymn but then Grand Chokmah was attacked by unknown forces. Many innocent lives brutally killed and they threatened us that they were going to kill a small child, most likely around the age of 5, with a knife to his neck." Everyone seemed surprised and Natalia gasped.

"Who would do such a thing?" She says in a hush voice, her hands over her mouth.

Jade pushes up his glasses and continues on. "We ended up getting the boy but 2 of the bandits escaped our grasp. One used flame burst on Arietta, Guy, and the Liger she brings around. Arietta and Liger were put on fire while Guy followed him, shortly ending his life afterwards. Liger was badly injured as from being hit by flame burst on the face, so Hymn tried using her healing mystic arte on him, it healed his burnt fur but not his eyesight. As you know he's gone blind." Jade points at the Liger in the corner, curled up in a ball, not facing anyone.

"Poor thing." Tear whispers.

"Meuiii, I feel bad." Meui squeaks out, remembering the destruction of its home.

"They ended up kidnapping Anise and Viola and told us that they kidnapped Tear and threatened the life of her and the child if they didn't take Arietta, Florian and the small boy from earlier. We ran back to Grand Chokmah to get the Albiore and to tell emperor Peony what happened. Half way there Liger went limp and completely lost his eyesight, so there wasn't anything we could do. We looked for them for a while before coming over here and telling you lovely women what happened."

"H-hey!" Luke yells out.

"But I'm a boy!" Meui yells out hopping off of Tear's lap to get a little piece of bread from the loaf by Forte. He sees Meui and grabs him, making Meui squeak.

"What the hell is this thing?" He says while poking Meui's face, Hymn just face palms.

"I swear you can't stay focused for a minute…" Jade chuckles at this.

"What?"

"Oh, Nothing." Hymn gives him a fake smile before turning to look at Luke and Tear.

"I heard from a few villagers from days ago that they saw people who matched their descriptions heading off towards Grand Chokmah. They took a coach so it won't be long before they get directed to here." Hymn says while eating small bites of sushi.

"I guess we just have to wait." Natalia says while looking at Forte and Meui.

Meui is stuffing food in his cheeks while Forte is giving him a weird glare. "Don't be mean to cheagles, you're supposed to be one to worship them, right?" Guy says with a laugh. Forte freezes, "This things a cheagle?!"


	20. Chapter 20

We took a coach and are heading to Grand Chokmah. Almost everyone is asleep. I couldn't stop thinking Liger and how he's doing. I just hope he's okay. I grab my stuffed doll from the bag filled with our items and clothes. I pull it to my chest. "Can't sleep, huh?" I turn around to see Anise rubbing her eyes lazily.

It was very dark outside. The sky filled with stars and the wind was blowing lightly. She goes over and sits by me.

"Look, I'm sorry…" Anise begins I look at her and she has her hands together looking out the window.

"I shouldn't have acted so childish, I should have left you alone instead of remembering things you can't remember-

"Apology accepted."

"Arietta?!"

"I don't need you to talk like that, we just need to make a new future together. And find out who kidnapped us and what they want to do."

Anise nods and gives me a tight hug.

"You've changed a lot, Gloomietta."


	21. Chapter 21

We make it to Grand Chokmah to see a blonde girl waiting for us by the Albiore. She runs right to us.

"The others are waiting at Baticul, if we hurry we could make it in the afternoon." Noelle says while letting us get on.

"I remember being on here…" Florian says, the little boy by his arm.

"It's been a while…" Anise says while hopping on a seat, relaxing and sleepily moves around to a more comfortable position.

"It's around 9 pm, we should get some proper rest before having to deal with the others…" Viola says while resting in a chair. We all end up sleeping the whole way, when we were going to Grand Chokmah we took quick naps. Everyone should agree it was a nice change.

Noelle woke us up and brought us to the manor before going to the Albiore, probably to rest. We walk in to see everyone speaking at the dining table, the food still hot so they didn't wait long.

"You're here! Finally someone else then Jade to complain with!" Forte gets up out of his seat to go over to us and speak.

"I kind of accepted you to find us and carry us out of danger, I guess what Hymn said about you being "lazy and not gentleman-like was true…" Anise says while shrugging sadly. Everyone just laughs until Jade looks us up and down, not amused.

"Why are you in uniform?" He says while furrowing his eyebrows, thinking.

"Long story." Florian says casually with the boy by him, he takes a seat by me. Forte sits by me and Anise sits by Forte. Hymn goes over and sits by her mother and starts blurting out things we did while on the run.

We eventually end up telling them what happened and everyone was quiet.

"It looks like everyone is in danger, now…" Luke says while eating some food.

"They pretended to have kidnapped me and took away all of you. They put you all in a cell and were probably waiting for orders… Maybe they were going to extract your fonons…" Tear says with her hand on her chin. Jade agreed and said that was the likely culprit for kidnapping us.

"Probably not…" I remember that man on the coach, knowing my name.

Everyone turns to look at me in surprise. Meui twitches his ears and something behind me makes noises and is walking towards me, I don't feel like looking back.

"One man separated me from the others and put me and him in a coach alone together. He said he knew my real name, and said the last thing he'd want is to put me in war. He was mumbling something about war before saying he wasn't my father but he knew me when I was a baby." I put a bread roll in my mouth.

"What's your real name?" Luke says while tilting his head to the side.

"He said my name was Faye Cosmos, and that his was Trident Cosmos."

Guy kind of jumps in his seat.

"W-what is it Guy?" Natalia says while trying not to get too close.

"That's the name of a famous man who mastered every fonic arte… O-or so it's told… He supposedly died in Hod… I guess he wasn't dead after all." Everyone froze at the conclusion.

"I knew him because he helped the women and children in Hod and the isle of Feres, in the war; supposedly he was stabbed multiple times before his body disappeared. N-no one knew where it went." Guy says while playing with his thumbs.

Jade pushes up his glasses. "Ah, professor Cosmos, leader on teaching and understanding the wonders of the universe…" Jade's crimson eyes show a glint of an unidentified emotion.

"I'm not sure we could prevent this problem…" Anise says as she fiddled around with her spaghetti.

"So he must have taken you all for individual purposes. We know Arietta's, but what about the little boy?"

Everyone turns to look at him, drinking apple juice and on Liger. I hop over and start petting Liger, he's not able to see but he knows it me. He nuzzles into my chest as the boy lays on him. Liger doesn't mind.

"You're okay…" He says to me.

"Of course I am, what about you?"

"I'm fine as long as you are, blindness won't destroy me." I smile at him. I place my doll on the ground as I rub his head

"We aren't sure about him, he doesn't talk at all but knows some extreme fonic artes like eclare de larmes." Viola says.

"Damn right about extreme…" Hymn chimes in.

Luke looks at him. "He's in his pajamas. Do you think that means he just woke up when the incident occurred?"

"Probably not. He woke up very early when we were at the inn at ." Florian takes a bite out of some crab.

Meui looks at him and twitches his cheeks.

"Does anyone know his family?" Meui says while processing the food he took from Forte, Forte grabs him and they start bickering again.

"We haven't seen a missing report on the kid, and we've sent out notice of him too. I guess his family died with the attack." Guy shrugs.

"We should keep him with us, maybe if Jade takes care of him he could learn to actually care about something other than his glasses." Hymn says as Luke and Viola snicker.

"How rude!" Jade pretends to be hurt. Natalia just giggles.

"He is kind of emotionless, isn't he?" She says as Florian looks over.

"He has emotion- Florian then stops and shows a face of disappointment.

"Oh wait…" Everyone laughs at that one.

Jade just keeps a smirk.

"Everyone is paying attention to me but no one pays attention Forte who's eyeing down every lady here."

Natalia gasps. "Oh my…" Tear just makes a face of uncertainty.

"Oh shut up Jade, like your talking." Forte snaps back.

"Yeah the only one he's been eyeing down is Muei!" Anise pops out and giggles at the joke.

They all laugh as a guard walks in. He bows and walks over to us.

Luke lays back in his chair. "So what's up?"


End file.
